Hypnosis in the movies and TV is something that many people have been fascinated by since the question is usually ‘Can they really do that?’, but the best answer is usually to tell people that it’s a movie. There are some truths when hypnosis is being used in movies since there is a great deal of focus that goes into the very real practice of it. But one thing to remember in the real world is that hypnosis is something that’s often used as a form of therapy, not a cheap parlor trick that can be pulled out when one wants to entertain their family or friends. There are a lot of ethics and morals that go into the practice of hypnosis since if someone does ‘go under’ it’s very possible that there might be ramifications that might end up endangering them as well as the hypnotist given that this practice is capable of pulling up various moments from a person’s subconscious, which could be dicey with some people. Here are a few ways that the movies get hypnosis wrong.
5. People don’t have to close their eyes to be hypnotized.
It’s very possible to keep your eyes open while focusing on the voice of the hypnotist. Some might feel as though they’re stuck where they are, others can feel like they’re falling, but a trained hypnotist will be able to use their voice to create this effect. One doesn’t need to close their eyes to focus, since the hypnotist is likely to tell a person to focus on something whether they close their eyes or leave them open, and it’s far easier to find something to focus on when your eyes are open. This misconception has been used in a lot of movies since it’s a slightly more cinematic effect. But keeping a person’s eyes open is definitely more impressive.
4. A person can’t be programmed to do just anything while under hypnosis.
Many people are susceptible enough that they can be told to do silly things that are well within their skill set and are simple enough that a person doesn’t need any special knowledge or training. But telling someone to go fight in an MMA match when they’re under when they have no knowledge of how to do such a thing, is beyond belief since the person has no prior knowledge of how to make this scenario work. Simple actions and behaviors aren’t hard to bring to the fore when a person is hypnotized since they don’t require the high level of training that anything else might.
3. Small actions likely won’t matter when a person is being hypnotized.
Being hypnotized is about focus more than anything since as it’s been mentioned, there needs to be a preamble, in other words, an introduction by the hypnotist as to what is going to happen and what they need the individual to do. Smaller actions that might evade one’s notice or become more annoying than anything else probably won’t matter since the person is being asked to block everything else out and focus. This is why some movies are a little less effective when they tend to use various stimuli that are small and carry little to no meaning. It’s a nice move for cinema, but it’s not quite as realistic as some think.
2. A person can’t be forced to be hypnotized.
There might be a lot of people that think that hypnotism robs one of their free will, but this isn’t the case. If you’re about to be hypnotized it’s because you agreed to be and were allowed to understand what was going to happen. If you’re not up for being hypnotized then there’s no one out there that can make it happen. Free will is a little too strong for anything other than a welcome suggestion. It is possible for someone to subtly implant a suggestion in a person’s mind if they find a way to make the individual lower the guard and thereby relax, thereby making the process a little easier, but not perfect.
1. Items aren’t really needed, but they help a person to focus.
A lot of us have likely seen hypnotists use watches, or swirling disks to make it appear that someone is being hypnotized. That’s not really what’s going on, as the item is merely used as a means to help an individual focus and nothing else. The watch and spinning disks don’t do much more than give the person something to look at in an attempt to block out everything else. This actually does work since the tighter one’s focus becomes, the less they’ll pay attention to anything other than what the hypnotist wants them to. This is about free will though, and at this point, they’ve given permission to have their will subverted.
It’s possible to hypnotize people of course, but the movies tend to glam up the process a bit.
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